Attempt #117 - The Pines Pizza & Pub

 

Menu

The Venue 

4100 River Ridge Dr NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
(317) 200-5350

 

The Pines Pizza & Pub is revamped Vitos and 42^nd with a new owner. High and low top table seating as well as a full bar.  Numerous Tvs are positioned around the dining area, so the restaurant which provides a sports bar feel, but more of a white-collar vibe.

 

The Pizza

A1 | Taco ($27)

Chicago Style: No

Crust Thickness: Average

Menu: https://order2.silverwarepos.com/app/flanoson42nd#!/menu

Participants: 7 (5 children)

Pizza Ordered:  4

Sizes Offered/Ordered: One size

Pieces Cut: Rectangular by request

Half and Half to try more varieties

 

1.    Taco (half) – Your favorite taco pizza.  In-house sauce topped with tomatoes, lettuce, chips, and cheddar. No beans ($26).

Sausage/Pepperoni | Pepperoni

A1 Bacon Cheeseburger (second half) – Yeah, we said A1steak sauce! Coupled with our pizza sauce, bacon, beef, onions, and our signature cheese. Add jalapenos to give it that extra kick! ($24).

 

2.    Supreme (half) – Sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushroom, black olives, green pepper, and sauerkraut ($24).

Meat Lovers (second half) - Sausage, bacon, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and ground beef. Because why not have one when you can have ‘em all? ($24)

 

3.    Crab Rangoon (half) – Your favorite takeout appetizer on a pizza. Imitation crab, cream cheese, & pizza cheese topped with our sweet chili sauce ($24).

Reuben | Crab Rangoon ($25)

Reuben (second half) – Classic Reuben sandwich on a pizza ($24).

 

4.    Sausage & Pepperoni (half) and Pepperoni (second half).

 

 

Verdict

Sauce: The sauce had good consistency with the appropriate pizza.  The crab/taco were light on sauce, where as your traditional pizzas were a lot heavier.   

Slices

Cheese:  The cheese was way better on our fourth pizza, with a lot more to chew through.  It was excellent!

Crust: The crust was on the thinner side, but no cracker thin. Did a good job not burning it; however, it a little soggy on a few pizzas.

Toppings: Heavy on the toppings, which wasn’t a bad thing.

 

Final thoughts:  The Crab Rangoon was the crowd (and personal) favourate due to its richness of cheese and tangy sauce.  The Supreme was also a lot better than the meat pizza due to its robustness of flavorful toppings.  The top seller is the Taco, which wasn’t quite a good as Happy Joes. With Fongs now closed in Cedar Rapids, this is one of the few places you can go to get a decent Crab Rangoon pizza.   

 

Here are our ratings, where 1 = worst and 10 = best.

Overall 8.14

Cheese 8.86

Topping 8.71

Sauce 7.86

Crust 7.71

Venue 8.86

Favorite: Crab Rangoon